5 Must-Reads: Critical Fintech Updates!

5 Must-Reads: Critical Fintech Updates!

Keeping up with the many changes in the fintech-o-sphere can be dizzying. Here are just a few critical updates we spotted this week: WePay is getting a big-bank makeover; wallets are waiting for a big reveal; Venmo asserts its social status; and Amazon might be better at reading your members than you are. On the upside, if you just arrived from China and need to hail a cab, Alipay is about to take a little stress out of the transaction.

JP Morgan Chase has acquired fintech platform WePay, and with it the capability to promote integrating payments functionality into software. But are big banks a good fit for a nimble fintech company like WePay?

New research from JPMorgan Chase and Forrester suggests that consumers are waiting for the “next wave of progress” before adopting new mobile wallet technology. Is this technology really in a lull, or has it never really taken off?

Venmo is so hip, it’s part of the vernacular. The fintech company is playing up its status in a new creative campaign that invites readers to fill in the blanks on common social situations that cry out for mobile P2P money transfer. “Let’s not make it awkward. Just ______ me.”

“Paying for taxis can be one of the most stressful elements of traveling abroad, particularly if you don’t speak the language,” says Souheil Badran, president of Alipay North America. That problem might be solved as Alipay extends its partnership with Verifone to include payment terminals in taxis.